DRAFT - 7.20.2015
It’s Time to Seriously Assess Your Mobile App Strategy
Introduction
Mobile enterprise applications are exploding in number and variety across the North American business sector. As a result, companies that aren’t currently optimizing their mobile efforts are putting themselves at risk. While these businesses may be lagging due to inadequate resources or knowledge, their competitors can already be well down the mobilization curve and reaping the benefits of happier customers, expanded market share, and increased revenues.
Having said that, it’s understandable that many of today’s businesses are overwhelmed when it comes to determining when and how to properly create and implement effective mobile software applications. The rapid growth trajectory that is currently in place for mobile apps can result in denial, confusion, and even disarray.
This paper will examine five steps for developing a current, secure, and well-managed mobile app portfolio.
It’s Not Your Imagination – Mobile Business Apps are Everywhere
Mobile devices – the latest smartphone, the cutting-edge wearable, the lightest tablet – seem to monopolize the attention of today’s press. However, devices are simply the engines for what really counts – the software applications that help today’s businesses succeed. From basic navigation apps to complex workforce optimization solutions, mobile software is driving real and positive change in today’s business sector.
Not surprisingly, the mobile business app market is on an impressive growth trajectory. Frost & Sullivan surveys a sample of North American businesses each year, and responses reveal that 82% of organizations already have at least one employee-facing app deployed. An impressive 17% of companies self-identify as heavy users, with 20 or more software applications available for their workers to use on their mobile handhelds. And mobile app use is not confined to a small group of workers; rather, it is widespread across multiple employee types – from C-level execs to mid-managers to field service techs.
And no matter what size they are, they’re not done yet. In the next 12 months, almost 80% of businesses plan to keep adding new mobile worker apps to their portfolios.
[Exhibit 1: Insert survey chart of mobile app growth plans]
So, clearly, businesses are sold on the mobile app value proposition. However, there is concern that mobile application strategies are not being well thought through at the individual company level.
Mobile app deployment can often be a reactive and disorganized endeavor, driven by a number of factors, including:
· Employee expectations – Today’s employees take mobile apps for granted in their personal lives, and they are impatient to experience the same level of convenience and assistance in their jobs.
· The promise of increased worker productivity – Companies believe that real-time visibility and information exchange will result in more productive employees and more efficient work processes.
· Desire to innovate – Line of business (LOB) heads view mobility as a means of differentiating against their competitors, and have become more vocal in demanding mobile solutions for their workers and their customers.
· Enriched customer engagement – Customers are able to get the product, service and/or information they want more quickly via a well-designed smartphone or tablet app, and are more satisfied as a result.
While company enthusiasm is clearly growing, it’s still not moving quickly enough for some. BYOA – Bring Your Own App – results in employees introducing their own mobile apps into the company ecosystem. While this may improve one worker’s effectiveness, it can inject an unstable element by bypassing the IT organization, which is tasked with not just coordinating mobility efforts across the various LOBs, but also for ensuring data security and optimal backend integration. Over a quarter of businesses already consider employee use of unauthorized mobile apps to be a problem. Without a formal, up-to-date mobile application strategy, renegade apps can inflict serious damage.
[Exhibit 2: Insert survey chart re unauthorized mobile apps]
Then there is the BYOD – Bring Your Own Device – dynamic which can further amp up the confusion level around mobile applications by causing inconsistent app performance across multiple mobile form factors and operating systems.
Bottom line: An increasing number of managers, employees, and customers understand the transformative power of mobile business applications; however, companies often lack a roadmap for a successful strategizing strategy and implementation plan. Unfortunately, taking a reactive, laissez-faire attitude toward mobile business apps carries distinct risks, including:
· Security breaches that expose company and customer data
· Lost profitability
· Inefficient business processes
· Dissatisfied employees and customers
It’s Time to Assess and Update
Whether you’ve already begun mobilizing your software solutions or are still sitting on the fence, it’s time to hit the pause button, assess your situation, and plan any further mobile app deployments in a proactive and organized fashion.
Successful mobility strategies are always anchored to real business need and to measurable goals. Following the five steps outlined below will put your company on track to mobility success:
[Exhibit 3: Insert chart that lists the 5 steps]
Step One: Stabilize your current mobile environment
Do you fully understand your company’s current mobile ecosystem? If not, it’s time to perform a comprehensive assessment of your mobilized environment. That means identifying the following current components:
· What specific mobile applications are being utilized? Have they been authorized by your company? List both the hard (quantifiable) and soft benefits they are providing. What is it costing to run these apps? Who’s using them? How are employees and/or customers accessing these software solutions? On which form factors and mobile operating systems do these apps run?
· What mobile devices are your employees actually using on the job – smartphones, basic feature phones, tablets, ruggedized mobile computing devices, wearables? Are these company-provided devices, or are employees using their own personal devices? Will your apps be used by other parties – supply partners, contract workers, etc. – with an even more diverse assortment of devices and operating systems? Which manufacturers and mobile operating systems are going to need to be supported?
· What, if any, type of mobility management process or system is in being utilized? What are your performance analytics capabilities?
After defining the mobile apps, devices, and oversight that are currently in place, an in-depth audit of data security mechanisms and policies is imperative. Does your company have an official mobile security policy? Has it been effectively communicated to employees? Is there someone on staff that has clear accountability in this area?
Mobile security is a fast-moving target, requiring regular assessment and updates. For example, are your mobile apps vulnerable to leaking information at any point as real-time customer and company data speeds back and forth between the worker’s handset and HQ backend systems? Or, if a mobile device is misplaced or stolen, can your IT staff quickly and remotely lock down functionality, kill the compromised device, and wipe all data? What authentication and encryption processes have been built in? Are they sufficient?
Only after you have a clear, up-to-date view of your current mobile environment, can you accurately identify the remaining work that needs to be done.
Step Two: Identify and prioritize mobile voids
Now you can begin building your mobile application strategy blueprint.
Did your initial assessment reveal any obvious gaps in apps, devices, analytics, or security?
You won’t be able to answer this question correctly until you assemble the optimal mobile strategy team. Representatives from both the IT organization and impacted lines of business should be included – and they should be ready to truly collaborate.
· The days of impatient LOB executives trying to end-run around IT are over. IT absolutely has to be part of this conversation in order to ensure that backend integration, data security, and overall app coordination are handled correctly.
· The LOB will be the go-to source for identifying critical work flows and pinpointing where mobilization can help address impediments and increase productivity and revenues.
· Your Finance department should also be involved in order to maintain fiscal discipline and run the requisite profitability analyses.
Another key decision-making party is the actual end user of the mobile solution. Your mobile employees can provide valuable perspective and input throughout your mobile strategy discussions. Their participation early on can also assist in increasing worker acceptance and cooperation when new apps and devices are actually deployed.
When defining mobile gaps and voids, consider surveying your employees and department heads for recommendations. Delve into relevant benchmarking studies to identify best practices by competitors. Identify company, department and work flow pain points.
The mobile application recommendations that fall out of this research and discussion usually segment into three major areas:
· First, if there are already mobile apps formally in use, they each need to be approved, or marked for discard or refresh.
· Second, existing desktop applications and resources that should now be made mobile-accessible are identified. Companies typically have legacy systems that are brimming with valuable backend data yet are completely walled off from mobile employees. For example, consider how real-time wireless access to customer contracts, product inventory, and CRM data could increase the productivity and effectiveness of your field sales representatives.
· Third, new territory is explored. Identify the types of new application solutions that are needed by your remote employees, based on anticipated impacts on productivity, process improvement, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
The pros and cons of available mobile device form factors and operating systems should also be addressed. In this BYOD world, mobile apps should be designed, developed, and tested across multiple mobile platforms. Determine the value of open vs. closed OS ecosystems, and recognize that decisions in this area will impact speed to market and ongoing management requirements.
After calculating estimated financial impacts, the strategy team should then prioritize its recommendations regarding applications and the devices they will run on, and assemble its initial application strategy roadmap.
New Step!!!
Step Three: Define key performance indicators (KPIs)
Goals should be formalized as part of the mobilization strategy, and quantitative KPIs should be defined and used to objectively measure results.
Quantitative metrics can be difficult to pinpoint and develop, but they are critical to measuring the post-deployment impact of individual mobile applications. Sample KPIs include revenue growth, expense reduction, customer satisfaction levels, etc. The metrics should reflect corporate priorities and objectives.
Step Four: Begin creating a comprehensive mobile application portfolio
Once the app roadmap is authorized, IT should work closely and collaboratively with impacted LOBs to create and deploy the approved solutions.
If mobilizing existing business apps, the focus should be on minimizing any operational disruption, implementing a secure solution, and ensuring easy and convenient access by the mobile worker. The newly-mobilized apps should work on multiple devices and run seamlessly on the company’s preferred platform(s). They should also be compatible with any MDM (mobile device management) system that is in place.
If deploying brand new apps, a first question will be “build or buy?” The answer is often “both.” An array of prebuilt off-the-shelf application solutions are available and can be somewhat customized to satisfy specific company needs. Often these commercial apps are cloud-based and managed by a third party. Or a business can decide to create a fully customized mobile solution that directly addresses the unique problem at hand. IT will be expected to furnish the necessary developer skills.
Going from a desktop application to a mobile application isn’t overbearing, but ensure you have the right know how to use the resources wisely. You may need to hire a partner to ramp up your staff or do this for you. But ensure your partner has the pedigree to understand the pitfalls of mobile otherwise starting over can be very expensive
In either case – build or buy – the company must keep in mind the requirements that will ensure smooth deployments: professional integration with the necessary backend systems, data security, ease of use, and an ability to work on the mobile platforms and device form factors of choice.
Step Five: Manage and maintain
Controlled pilots should be considered before rolling out any complex app. A month-long limited rollout is usually sufficient to uncover any serious difficulties or concerns.
Even when apps are fully developed and deployed, the mobilization effort does not end. Mobile software applications must be actively managed in order to ensure ongoing optimal performance.
Developing a successful strategy around mobile applications obviously demands a significant amount of time and energy. And, frankly, the effort never really stops, as mobile solutions require 24/7 care and maintenance in order to stay current, effective, and secure. With many IT organizations stretched thin just to adequately address core technical tasks such as infrastructure maintenance, today’s companies would be well advised to consider bringing in outside expert assistance.
Do You Need a Partner?
If you’re looking at mobilizing and thinking “We need help,” you are not alone. When asked about using third-party partners to help with selecting and implementing mobile business solutions, only 12% of surveyed companies state that they prefer not to use a partner at all. That leaves 88% who recognize the need for outside assistance.
Why are businesses willing to bring in third parties to help with their mobilization effort? According to today’s companies, two of the biggest barriers to deploying mobile business apps are their lack of internal mobility expertise and the lack of a sufficient number of IT personnel to tackle the job. An outside expert neatly neutralizes both of those concerns.
But what should you look for when evaluating a potential partner? Based on company responses to the most recent Frost & Sullivan mobile apps survey, the top criteria for selecting a mobility partner include:
· Professional services capabilities – including mobile application support services
· The cost of doing business
· The partner’s level of experience with backend system integration
· Technical support service capabilities
· The partner’s ability to create customized mobile apps
[Exhibit 4: Insert survey chart re: top partner selection criteria]
Compared to only a couple of years ago, today’s organizations are bringing a much more mature perspective to the important task of selecting a partner. Simply put, they are choosing to focus on factors other than only cost. They realize that it is vitally important to select a mobility partner that can expertly support an initiative from its initial planning stage, through deployment, and into the post-rollout phase.